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One of the most serious problems faced by the multinational retailer is the estimation of the structure of retail markets in the many countries that he might want to enter. While marketing scholars have developed methods for assessing market potentials and for evaluating economic and political conditions, they have not been as successful in solving the market entry problem as it relates to the development of retailing. There are a large number of models of retail change which can be applied to the process, however, they generally fall short of management desires. In the first place, these models are often based on hypotheses of retail change in the North American market. In the second place, many of the models have not been formally tested within that environment and few have been evaluated in the wider context. Finally, these models are not comparative and the use of them in comparative analysis would suffer from the absence of acceptable categories and data. One approach that might help the difficulties of market entry is to apply historical research methods to the problem of understanding change. These methods by their very nature embody the elements of comparative analysis and offer the added advantage of dealing with specific firms and events rather than concentrating on more aggregate categories. By focusing on specific retailers in a single country and across many countries the researcher can develop general propositions which are deductively arrived at in a systematic fashion rather than rely on chance observation of aggregate structure and behaviour. Historical research demands a new outlook and sensitivity in the observation of events and in the analysis of data. The skills required to undertake such research have direct benefits because they force the researcher clearly to define the elements of his study in a way not possible when statistical methods are employed. Will such research be the answer to all of the issues of multinational retailing? The answer is clearly no; however, it can help managers and marketing scholars better understand the process of change in the past. There is no certainty that the past will predict the future, but understanding the process of change might make the future more manageable; and, what better place is there to start than a historical perspective?

The purpose of this paper is to enhance students’ ability to use theory to assess facts logically and creatively. To achieve this end, the author explicates the evolution of retailing from its pre-industrial genesis to its Internet descendants in a historically based retail strategy class that investigates the determinants of new retail formats (major retail innovations – MRIs) over a > 200 year span. MRIs entail a major reconfiguration of the retail mix (i.e. price, product, place, promotion and personnel) , take significant business from existing formats that sell the same goods, generate greater benefits to customers than do rival formats and are widely imitated.

The author chronologically presents how the industrial revolution generated major environmental changes that facilitated a creative and highly effective re-organization of the retail mix.

Changes in environmental factors (e.g. mass production, transportation, location of population and communication) made possible retail formats that could not have existed earlier.

The course is based on two theories that are linked by the retail mix; one theory relates to consumer store choice, while the other relates to the minimum market size required for a retail format to be viable. To illustrate, more personnel raises service, drawing customers from rivals while raising costs; higher costs raise the needed market size.

All six MRIs are derived from the two aforementioned theories. Experience indicates these theories are valid for assessing retailing at all stages of economic development. The course is based on the authors own material.

Assesses the evolution of retail brands within British grocery retailing over the past 25 years. Highlights key issues in defining retail brands which contribute to our understanding of their role and impact upon company strategy, and then explores how British retailers have managed the evolution of these product ranges. Identifies key factors as the changing basis and use of retail power in the distribution channel, the centralisation of management activities, and the appreciation of what constitutes retail image. Argues that British grocery retailers have successfully managed these factors to create a retail brand which is now regarded by customers as being at least equal to, if not better than, the established manufacturer brands.

This exploratory study identifies key pillars on which innovative business models rely in the Latin American retail landscape. First, using qualitative research methods, we delve into the minds of Latin America's emerging consumers to uncover their needs and paradigms. In a region where retail innovation has traditionally been targeted at high-income consumers, we find a new breed of retailers that cater to the large mass of emerging consumers. Second, we explore the avenues of innovation retailers have followed to serve this impoverished segment and find that retailers' efforts to innovate have resulted in at least three original retail formats: one centered on providing access to durable goods, another centered on offering a wide assortment of goods and a convenient location, and the last one centered on incorporating design and quality. Based on the wheel of retailing theory, we show how these new formats are changing the structure of the retail industry in the region.

Many studies have analyzed the retail and distribution systems in transitional economies, either from a general perspective or by analyzing specific countries. However, only a few, if any, have analyzed the situation and changes taking place in the Cuban market. The purpose of this paper is to provide a current overview of Cuban wholesaling distribution and retailing for consumer products. It examines the challenges that are taking place in the wholesale and retail distribution system in the country and describes the sharp contrast between the state of retailing in Cuba before and after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The research is principally exploratory, based on fieldwork and in‐depth interviews carried out in Cuba during the first semester of 2003.

The analysis presents a fast‐paced evolution process in the Cuban distribution system. Cuban retail durable and non‐durable consumer goods market presents two different distribution structures: one in Cuban pesos, formed by the traditional socialist retail system, and a growing second structure formed by the new stores and wholesalers operating in US dollars. The dollar market encompasses many semi‐autonomous government‐owned and operated companies, vertically integrated, with store sales totaling over $1.4 billion in 2002.

The paper concludes by discussing the current and future opportunities for brand manufacturers and exporters, and the close relationship between Cuban retailing and tourism.

This paper considers the development of emerging retail markets with particular reference to Brazil. The South American region has only relatively recently seen the level of international retail interest previously seen in other global regions such as East Asia. The paper considers the development of retailing in Brazil and the impact of internationally derived innovation and direct international retail activity in the market. It considers concepts of retail internationalisation in the light of the Brazilian experience. The paper highlights important issues with respect to South America’s place in the evolution of global retailing.

The expansion by grocery retailers in the UK has been a subject of much speculation and continues to raise questions about the scope and format of future investment in new stores. Suggests that a more dynamic perspective of the strategies of individual retailers is central to understanding this issue. Examines competing perspectives of locational change and suggests that retail potential needs to be defined locally not just with reference to the quality of retail floorspace but also to the strategic objectives of competing organizations. Such a perspective highlights how the format and locational choices of competing retail organizations themselves might serve to blur the boundaries of local market potential. Illustrates this with reference to an exploratory case study of the evolution of grocery retailing in two UK cities, Cardiff and Manchester. Highlights the implications of the changes in competing formats for the stability of the local retail system and identifies some related research issues.

Retail warehousing is a subject of great topicality and interest. The property and planning press regularly contains new superlatives describing the behaviour of this sector of the retail industry. ‘…furniture and DIY warehouse sales were £658 million in 1984 showing a growth of 25% per annum since 1981.’ ‘Since 1977 retail warehouse rents have increased by a staggering 16.5 per cent per annum…compared with 13.0 per cent per annum for prime town centre retail rents.’ In 1986 there were current planning applications for more than 1.75m sq. ft of retail warehousing in the outer south east alone and ‘there are now over 1,000 stores in the country, with an estimated 40 chains currently seeking sites for 1,900 out‐of‐centre stores.’ Such statements distract the attention and make more difficult an examination of the factors which have underlain the emergence and remarkable growth of retail warehouses. Retail warehouses are one particular type of retail outlet and should be considered within the context of those wider trends evident in the retail sector as a whole.

This article aims to explore the effects of the massive arrival of foreign distribution concepts in emerging countries on the evolution of the local buyers' shopping practices. The confrontation of the latter, long accustomed to the traditional network, with the new retail outlets gives rise to the emergence of new modes of shopping and purchasing.

The use of a qualitative approach, combining in‐store observations of behaviours and in‐depth interviews, highlighted rich and complex trends in consumption in an emerging country; Morocco for instance.

The content analysis of collected data shows that the differences in social classes give place to varied shopping strategies and generate singular symbolic representations of shopping experiences. The research reveals also a hybridization of shopping practices where the consumers transpose some values and shopping behaviors inherited from the traditional trade into the modern distribution stores. Finally, the research also shows differences between global and local retail banners laying on their perceived images, store attendance and shopping practices which reflect their contrasted positioning strategies.

The findings enable the retailers to adapt/shape their location strategy, assortment policy and positioning strategy to improve their store image and attractiveness and gain market power. The results have also implications on the public policy to manage the balance and the future of local traditional shops and modern retail stores.

This paper points out the role of cultural anchorage in producing hybridized shopping practices that allows the domestic buyers to cope with the uncongruency between their inherited traditional values and those associated to the modern distribution. It also shows how these local customers use the modern retail stores as a scene of symbolic exhibition for their social status and invent hybrid shopping practices to cope with this incongruency.